ANNEX 2
OTTAWA 20/20 ARTS AND HERITAGE PLAN RENEWAL
(City of Ottawa Culture Plan Renewal)
STEERING
COMMITTEE
TERMS
OF REFERENCE
Cultural Services
Parks, Recreation and Culture Department
City Operations
City of Ottawa
Background
Council Direction
In April 2003, City Council
adopted the Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan (AHP), within the broader
context of the Ottawa 20/20 initiative.
The basic premise of Ottawa 20/20 was to balance social, environmental,
cultural and economic agendas so that Ottawa could grow in a way that served
current residents while being responsible to future generations.
The Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage
Plan was one among five Council-approved growth management plans. Together with the Economic Strategy, the
Environmental Strategy, the Human Services Plan, and the Official Plan, the
Arts and Heritage Plan provided long-term strategic direction and formed a
comprehensive blueprint for the future of Ottawa and its communities.
The Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage
Plan included strategic directions, policy statements and specific
actions. A detailed 5-year action plan
(2003-2008) was approved along with medium and longer-term actions. The Arts and Heritage Plan was to be reviewed
and renewed for relevancy every five years.
Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan Five-Year Report
A five-year Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan report will identify accomplishments, indicate ongoing gaps and needs, report on various cultural indicators and outline additional relevant issues following the first five years of AHP implementation (2003 to 2008). Work currently underway (2009 to 2011) will also be summarized.
Planning
Connections
Choosing Our Future
Choosing our Future is an innovative joint planning initiative of the City of Ottawa, the City of Gatineau, and the National Capital Commission. The goal of this multi-year project is to help Canada’s Capital Region face the challenges of the 21st century, and integrate concepts of sustainability and resiliency into all facets of regional planning and design.
Choosing our Future will produce a 100-year long vision and strategic directions for the next 30 years. “Culture and Identity” is rooted as one theme within this planning initiative and a related foundation paper has been produced in partnership with municipal cultural personnel. This high-level, long-term planning initiative will provide ongoing connection and overall framework for the Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan renewal.
Economic Strategy
The Ottawa 20/20 Economic Strategy renewal was launched in October 2009 with a tabling of a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis of the city’s economy and its prospects for the future. “Increasing the City’s interface with the arts, culture, science and technology sectors” was one area identified as needing further exploration as part of a refreshed economic strategy. This will ensure ongoing connection and collaboration between culture and economic spheres.
Environmental Strategy
The Ottawa 20/20 Environmental Strategy is currently in the process of being refreshed. Strong connections exist between heritage and environmental agendas, in the areas of preservation, conservation and cultural heritage landscapes. Connection between municipal cultural and environmental personnel has been initiated, and further collaboration will be sought.
Human Services Plan
The
Ottawa 20/20 Human Services Plan is currently initiating a review and refresh
process. Connections exist between cultural
and human service agendas in the areas of diversity, lifelong learning,
community arts, community places and spaces and partnership development. Connection between municipal cultural and
social service personnel has been initiated, and collaboration where relevant
will be discussed.
Parks and Recreation Master Plan
The City of Ottawa is in the process of developing a Parks and Recreation Master Plan that will provide a new set of principles and strategies to guide the delivery of recreation services for the next 10 to 20 years. Culture in a city exists on a continuum that stretches from recreation/leisure to amateur to emerging to professional non-profit to industry. All major Canadian cities deliver programs/services that address the full cultural continuum, as referenced in the Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan. Municipal cultural personnel actively participated in the development of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan as it related to the recreation/leisure component of the cultural continuum. Ongoing connections will be maintained.
Ottawa
20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan Renewal Process
A high-level Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan Renewal process has been crafted in partnership with Ottawa’s local cultural community. The following are key points:
- Municipal cultural staff and cultural community leaders will work in partnership throughout the process.
- A small, working team of municipal cultural staff rooted in various cultural practices will be guided by a diverse, community steering committee.
- Individuals that carry content expertise will collaborate to develop draft strategies/actions for the next 5-year period (2011-2016).
- Individuals from other sectors who connect in various ways to cultural content will participate in the development of strategies and actions.
- The full and broad-based community will participate actively during the consultation process, through outreach initiatives.
- Connections to “Choosing Our Future”, the Economic Strategy, the Environmental Strategy, the Human Services Plan and the Parks and Recreation Master Plan will be maintained and nurtured throughout.
Municipal Cultural Planning and Mapping
Creativity and culture build local economies. Across Ontario, municipalities are turning to municipal cultural planning (MCP) to support culture-led economic and community development. MCP is a tool for identifying what is unique about a community and using it for economic prosperity and improved quality of life.
Cultural mapping is widely recognized as an effective tool for development and planning. This method of describing the resources and assets of a specific community and the relationships between them promotes connectivity and community development.
The Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan Renewal process will employ cultural planning and cultural mapping approaches/tools to implement a renewal that engages broader and wider collaboration. Youth, media and grassroots engagement will be sought and nurtured. Visualization tools will be developed and used for engagement and decision-making purposes. A renewed cultural performance measurement approach and practice will be developed and launched.
Ottawa 20/20 Arts
and Heritage Plan Renewal Steering Committee
The
Parks, Recreation and Culture Services Branch has recommended the establishment
of an Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan Renewal Steering Committee in the
first half of 2010.
Parameters and Mandate
The Ottawa 20/20 Arts
and Heritage Plan Renewal (Culture Plan Renewal) Steering Committee mandate is
for a term of 16 months, beginning in April 2010 and extending to August
2011. The Steering Committee will:
1. champion
and provide direction to the Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan Renewal
(Culture Plan Renewal);
2. provide high-level guidance, advice and support for the Renewal, as development and consultation is carried out;
3. collaborate,
challenge, debate, troubleshoot, resolve issues and provide clarification as
required;
4. identify
gaps and assist in making links to the community, to other levels of
government, to the private sector, and to other agencies;
5.
oversee
the transition of the renewed Culture Plan into the City’s Strategic Plan,
once
City Council direction has been given in June 2011.
Membership and
Representation
The Steering Committee will be composed of twelve community leaders and a non-voting project manager. A membership selection process will employ the following selection criteria:
Positioning and Productivity:
Leadership and/or leadership potential in the community;
Recognized expertise and productivity within a
cultural field (emerging or established);
Awareness of and perspective on a broad range
of cultural activity;
Engaged in the community in a multi-nodal manner (ie. carrying more than one connection point to culture and/or connecting sector);
Communication capacity (positioned to communicate outwards and to receive communication)
Representation:
Representative of the cultural
community he/she serves;
The representation screen includes the following:
Arts-heritage-festivals and
disciplines within
Continuum of practice from
amateur to professional
Geographic (rural, urban,
suburban)
Age (youth, adult, senior)
Language (francophone and
anglophone)
Gender
Diversity (racialized,
indigenous, new Canadian)
Qualities:
Generous of spirit, trustworthy and open-minded;
Able to work collaboratively towards
consensus in a group decision-making situation; and Capacity to think and act
strategically
Roles and Responsibilities
Honourary Chair
The Chair of the Community and Protective Services Committee of Council will serve as the Honourary Chair for the Steering Committee. He/she will connect the work of the Steering Committee to the political level as required, and will update the Committee on Council priorities, timelines, and approaches.
Chair
The Chair will act as facilitator and final authority for disposition of items. He/she will ensure that meetings run according to schedule and that items considered by the Steering Committee have a clearly defined decision or output. The Chair will be responsible for providing the Project Manager with clear and concise direction for next steps, as a result of Steering Committee decisions taken. The Chair will communicate with the appropriate staff from the Office of the General Manager; Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services.
Project Manager
The Project Manager will be responsible for managing the agenda and timeliness of Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan Renewal deliverables. The Project Manager will work in collaboration with the Working Team, and will provide a communication link between working team and steering committee.
Decision Making
The Steering Committee will operate on a consensus decision-making model wherever possible. Where there is disagreement on a subject, the ‘voting members’ of the Committee will take a vote and the working teams will pursue the direction of the majority. The Chair can, where deemed appropriate, direct the Project Manager and working teams to pursue multiple options.
Frequency of Meetings
Meetings will be held monthly, subject to change at the discretion of the Steering Committee Chair.
Proposed
Deliverables and Timeline
April to May 2010 - Development of Discussion Paper(s)
In March and April 2010, the Culture Plan Renewal working team will be
carrying out interviews with cultural community leaders, leaders from connected
sectors, municipal senior management, political leaders, and youth and
grassroots leaders, to gather current priorities, issues and potential
solutions. These interviews will inform the development of discussion
paper(s) that are intended to float potential strategies, solutions and actions
outward; in an attempt to seed and spark thought, dialogue and
discussion. Distribution will be broad, in order to ensure that a wide cross-section
of players can be engaged.
May to Summer 2010 - Expert Focus Groups
Based on potential strategies from the discussion paper, expert focus groups will gather and work together on specific themes/thematic threads. "Content experts" will be drawn from the diverse cultural sector and from connecting sectors. Specific focus groups designed to engage youth, grassroots, nightlife players, media, new Canadians and indigenous peoples will be included. Professional facilitation will be employed. Results from all focus groups will be integrated and reported on together.
Summer to Early Fall 2010 - Draft
Plan
Results from all expert focus groups will inform the writing of a renewed draft Culture Plan, and specifically a new 5-year action plan. Results from the youth, grassroots, media, nightlife, new Canadian and indigenous peoples' focus groups will be integrated and will help to close gaps in communication between emerging and established. This integration will also foster greater mutual recognition of actors in the region, facilitate inter-sectoral organization and allow for wise decision-making around draft plan direction. The draft plan will be distributed broadly in September 2010.
October 2010 to March 2011 - Broad
Community Public Consultation
Based on the draft plan, a series of public meetings will be organized, in partnership with community cultural umbrella organizations, to present the draft plan and to receive reactions, feedback and input. Rural, suburban and urban consultation meetings will be planned. Opportunities for web-based dialogue/input and social networking feedback will supplement direct meeting consultation.
March to June 2011 - Final Plan and Approval
The final plan will be informed by the public consultation period, and will seek Council approval in June 2011. Visualization tools developed for public engagement will be retooled to focus on political decision-makers.
June to August 2011 – Evaluation and Implementation Launch
Following Council direction, the Arts and Heritage
Plan Renewal process will be evaluated and implementation will be launched.